SF Giants prospect lashes out at Fernando Tatis Jr. on Twitter

During the 2022-2023 offseason, the SF Giants made a minor trade with the Chicago White Sox that saw 6-foot-7 Kade McClure (an actual giant) heading to the Bay Area and Gregory Santos going to Chicago.

SF Giants prospect lashes out at Fernando Tatis Jr. on Twitter

The Giants, looking to trim down their 40-man roster, had no problems shipping Santos, who had struggled in five appearances for the big league club, away for a pitcher who would not immediately require a spot on the 40-man.

McClure, 27, has struggled in recent years. In 2021, he had a combined 4.87 ERA in 24 appearances as a member of the White Sox farm system. He struckout a decent amount of batters but struggled keeping batters off the bases, whether it was via base hit or walks.

To begin his Giants tenure, McClure is currently a member of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. The River Cats are in the midst of a series against the El Paso Chihuahuas, the highest minor league affiliate of the San Diego Padres.

On that roster is none other than Fernando Tatis Jr., who is one of the premier talents in today's game. He has had a hard time staying healthy (mostly thanks to off-the-field incidents that were his own fault), but he's also in the middle of serving a suspension he earned after taking Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs).

Tatis, a whiz with the bat, hit a long home run off of McClure in Wednesday night's matchup. This was the proverbial "cherry on top" for McClure, who had an awful outing. He pitched 2.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits while walking two and failing to strike out a single batter.

Darnay Tripp, a sports anchor for NBC San Diego, posted a video of the massive home run and made the comment that McClure "will be telling people for years about the time he gave up an absolute nuke to Fernando Tatis Jr.". Unsurprisingly, McClure did not like that.

Of course, this did not go over well amongst McClure's following. He immediately began to rack up the replies from people, including current and former major leaguers, telling him to take the tweet down because he was making himself look bad.

Was he, though? I mean, the man has a point. There's little to brag about on Tatis' end (although we fully acknowledge that Tatis did not make the original tweet and is not actually bragging), as he is on the comeback trail from a PED suspension.

McClure has every right to be upset. After all, he is a minor league pitcher giving up a home run to an established major league superstar. The way it was handled on social media by others can't possibly help the situation either, but he certainly is justified in clapping back and expressing his distaste.

Is this the best way to respond to giving up a home run to Tatis Jr? That is certainly up for debate as McClure's reaction looks petty after a poor outing. His message was not factually incorrect, but the way he went about it will likely become a learning experience for 27-year-old pitcher.